Team Canada Beer Fridge: Canadian Passport Needed

Canada sure knows how to turn up the heat at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Molson, a Canadian beer company, sent a bright red fridge filled with beer to Team Canada’s headquarters in Sochi to give them a taste of home. Best of all, the beer is free for all who carry Canadian passports.

The beer fridge operates just like an airport scanner and works by verifying the font on the passport, the word “Canada”, and the country’s seal. When everything is good to go, the fridge door opens and free beer is within reach. The free Molson beer is offered to Canadian Olympians and all their friends.

Molson is a Montreal-based beer company that merged with Coors in 2005. The red, retro Molson fridge has always been an icon in Canada. Forest Kenney, Molson’s spokesperson, said that the promotion in the Olympics is a continuation of last summer’s Canada Day campaign where the red fridge was placed in different locations and only those with a Canadian passport can open the door and get beer. The red fridge popped up in various locations in Europe, such as Belgium and France.

Aaron Starkman, the creative director and partner of Toronto-based advertising agency Re Think said that it has always been a plan to bring the iconic fridge to the Sochi Winter Olympics. Starkman’s team organized and came up with the red fridge campaign.

Footage for the travelling fridge was made into a 30-second television commercial and is said to be one of the most watched advertisements in Canada. After the fridge’s journey in Europe, it was sent to the U.S. for the Winter Classic in January before making its way to the Sochi Olympics.

The red fridge’s presence in the Olympics has had positive reviews, including one from a USA Today writer who exclaimed that the retro beer fridge is one of the best technologies in Sochi.